991146 Cattle Group Disputes USDA E. Coli DataNovember 15, 1999Washington - U.S. cattlemen said that new U.S. Agriculture Department data showing a sharply higher rate of a deadly strain of E. coli bacteria in cattle was misleading, and the actual rate remained at less than one percent. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said new test data showed the dangerous E. coli 0157:H7 bug may be present in as many as half of all U.S. cattle slaughtered for meat. The bacteria, which can cause bloody diarrhea and kidney failure, was blamed for 52 deaths in the United States last year. “There is no change in the prevalence on farms, in dairy cattle and in beef cattle,” said Gary Weber of the National Cattlemens Beef Association. “There is no evidence that the prevalence of this organism has changed at all since we began studying it in the early 1990s,” he added. The new data concerns USDA enough that regulators have decided to re- evaluate policies for how slaughter plants test and prevent the bacteria from contaminating raw ground beef and other meat. But the cattle group said the agency's fears were based on misinterpreted information collected by scientists at a USDA animal research lab in Nebraska. Researchers there studied the incidence of E. coli 0157:H7 in cattle herds, based on whether animals had been exposed to the organism and developed an immune response. The research tracked herds and did not try to calculate how many cattle were actually carrying the disease at the time of slaughter, Weber said. “That's dramatically different than whether an animal actually has the organism,” he said. The cattle group said its own data, collected from meat grinders and processors, showed that E. coli 0157:H7 occurs in fewer than one-half percent of cattle sent to slaughter. That rate is the same as earlier USDA calculations. “We're committed to tackling E. coli and this is a priority issue for us,” he said. “But there is a great deal we don't yet understand about this organism.” The deadly strain of E. coli is also found in deer and geese, which could contribute to the spread of it on farms, he said. The cattle group has lobbied the federal government for a $20 million research project to uncover more information about E. coli 0157:H7. “There are many people like farm workers, dairy workers and others who carry the organism but never get sick,” Weber said. “We need to know more about this bacteria.”
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